Saturday, April 28, 2007

Agence France Press (AFP)report that @ 6.35 BST the Taliban freed Celine one of the 2 captured French workers for Terre d’Enfance (A World For Our Children) who were captured on April 3rd in the southwestern province of Nimroz.

She was delivered in Maiwand district, a Taliban stronghold about 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Kandahar city, Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP (by satellite phone from a secret location) and had a letter demanding the withdrawal of French troops for the release of her male companion a French man and three Afghans, a driver, translator and bodyguard,who are still held.

The letter has a message to the French government that it must “cut its military assistance to Afghanistan” in exchange for their freedom, Ahmadi said. Asked if a ransom had been paid, said the aid worker had been freed "because she is a woman".

“We have extended the deadline for the French man and three Afghan hostages for another week,” he said.

There has been no public response by the French authorities other than to confirm the deatils that had been made public.5

See post yesterdaySarkozy stirs the NATO/Afghan pot - threatens withdrawal of French troops

Today is the 15th Anniversary (give a week or so) of the end of communist rule which President Khazai made with a fresh offer of peace to Islamic rebels.

"Today, while celebrating the jihad victory, we once again invite those who have sided with aliens because of seduction against their nation, to give up sedition and evil and join peaceful life," he said.

Kharzai is due to meet the Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Turkey tommorrow and the Taliban use of Pakistan tribal areas as a sanctuary and training centre will be high on the agenda. Pakistan denies any continued formal support for the group it helped to power in the 1990s, but is a cross border infiltrati source of constant concern between Islamabad and Kabul. Musgarrif accused President Kharzai of weakness on terrorism in an interview published on Thursday in the Spanish daily El Pais.

President Pervez Musharraf is in the northern city of Tuzla in Bosnia/Herzegovina today and the eastern town of Srebrenica, in which Bosnian Serb troops massacred up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men during the country's 1992-1995 war. The pictures shows Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf accompanied by his wife Sehba as they pray at the site in Tuzla April 28, 2007 where 72 boys and girls were killed by a single artillery round in 1995.

Before he arrived in Bosnia, he visited Poland and Spain, and will travel to Turkey from Sarajevo. He didn't find the time presumably to visit Belgrade and explain about the ethnic cleansing of 250,000 Serbs from Kranje Luka by the Bosnian Muslims with the help of the US forces.

As the holiday season starts and families head for the sun, get ready for a terrist alert..... one is just around the corner .......

This has no connection with the handing over in October of Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi who had been plotting to rid the world of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. His subsequent pleasant stay in "Camp Freedom" on the sunny island of Diego Garcia which was stolen by the Queen from the Chagos islanders, may perhaps be the background to the lurid tales of nuclear holocausts with an Islamic finger on the button.

A US government summary on Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi available for the credulous press circus said hae was "known and trusted" by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden - this seems bit rich when years ago President Bush didn't know and couldn't care if Osama BL was Dead or Alive.

Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi it is claimed sat on al Qaeda's Shura leadership and was known to have been in Pakistan's tribal regions. A Pentagon spokesman who was named as Bryan Whitman said Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi intended to "manage al Qaeda affairs" in Iraq when he was handed over.

Another, but nameless official is quoted "He was going to Iraq to take a hand in things, though now we'll never know what kind of reception might have been in store for him." A CIA spokesperson Paul Gimigliano added, ""This guy was a veteran jihadist whose capture is a significant victory in the fight against terror. Getting him off the street is good news."

US intelligence has long warned that the war in Iraq is providing Islamist militants with hands-on training in urban guerrilla warfare and experience at eluding US security measures.

With Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, (pic - the Sun says he is 46) it is calculated that the Pentagon/CIA holds 15 "high-value detainees" -- a classification that the prisoner is capable of providing high-quality intelligence.

The US are busy claiming that Egyptian Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir has replaced the supposedly dead Abu Musab al Zarqawi. What is either overlooked or unexplained is that some 30/40% of the suicide bombers in Iraq are Algerian and there many more from the Mahgreb, recent structural changes after renaming tyhemselves as al-Qaida Organisation for the Islamic Maghreb and new financing which has been seen in increased terrorist activity is rising around the Mediterranean littoral. When Moroccan interior minister Chakib Benmoussamet Home Secretary peJohn Reid, and the rson we cal the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, in London when he visited recently, told them taht "dozens" of young Moroccans travelled to Iraq and volunteered as suicide bombers or jihadis in the past 18 months.

So if the tanks at the airport don't frighten you on the way there, the terrists could make it a memorable holiday this year.

Friday, April 27, 2007

"A failure in generalship "By a serving officer Lt. Col. Paul Yingling is a remarkable, lucid, well argued and excoriating esay on the failures of the senior US military command in Vietnam. Iraq and Afghanistan . It deserves to be widely read. It is, remarkably, published in the Armed Forces Journal.

"The intellectual and moral failures common to America's general officer corps in Vietnam and Iraq constitute a crisis in American generalship. Any explanation that fixes culpability on individuals is insufficient. No one leader, civilian or military, caused failure in Vietnam or Iraq. Different military and civilian leaders in the two conflicts produced similar results. In both conflicts, the general officer corps designed to advise policymakers, prepare forces and conduct operations failed to perform its intended functions. To understand how the U.S. could face defeat at the hands of a weaker insurgent enemy for the second time in a generation, we must look at the structural influences that produce our general officer corps."

"To reward moral courage in our general officers, Congress must ask hard questions about the means and ways for war as part of its oversight responsibility. Some of the answers will be shocking, which is perhaps why Congress has not asked and the generals have not told. Congress must ask for a candid assessment of the money and manpower required over the next generation to prevail in the Long War. The money required to prevail may place fiscal constraints on popular domestic priorities. "

It is depressing to realise, that if members of this Administration bothered to read tis powerful and reflective esay , they wouldn't understand it and what is worst , wouldn't act. There is almost a need to see a re-run of Saigon over the Green Zone as the Sh-ite hordes swarm... and the NATO Alliance on Afghan shudders as soldiers are sent off to a certain death in the poppy fields.

Whilst he provides few answers he raises and identifies the major failures in the way the US selects it's senior military staff. However when you think General Myers was due to be sworn in as Supreme Commander of US forces days after 9/11 he spent that morning closeted in the office of Senator McClellan, beyond the reach of TV, radio, messengers, telephones, pagers whilst across the Potomac the Pentagon was hit by a missile... there are few who will be prepared to listen.

Lt. Col. John A Nagl is military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense. Lt. Col. Paul L. Yingling is deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

" .... the costs of transforming the Army for the Long War pale in comparison to the risks of failing to do so. The U.S. is already fighting active insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. If we fail to bring stability to these states, their territories and populations will soon become instruments for spreading instability throughout the greater Middle East. Fragile governments such as those in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan may fall, endangering global oil supplies and nuclear nonproliferation controls. If we fail to dominate this conflict at the lower end of the spectrum, we may indeed find the need to fight a major theater war to impose stability on a region too vital to ignore. The costs of doing so will be exponentially greater than our current operations..."

To many outside the muttering Metropolitan classes the exchnage may have (and probably did) seem... er ... Beckettesque .... perhaps best conducted on a lonely windswept park bench by two tramps as the imcomprehension rises on both sides ...

Boulton: Yet we still have quite a lot of dissent about the way Labour has lead in foreign policy. We’ve got a former ambassador to Rome, to Dublin , sending out his farewell telegram basically saying that expert advice in the foreign office is being ignored, that money is being wasted on consultants. That basically Number Ten doesn’t listen to the people who are paid to know about these things in your department, the Foreign Office.

Beckett: Well that’s not something that I’m aware of….

Boulton: You’re not aware of this telegram from Ivor Roberts?

Beckett: I’m afraid no I have not seen it. I have as you may notice, as you say, been rather busy at the United Nations.

Boulton: And are you aware that future such telegrams have now been banned in the Foreign Office? That sounds rather draconian.

Pendennis in the Observer February 11th 2007 having seen the telegram dribbled a little bit more to an eager public.

Lord Patel brought the attention of readers to the curious question raised in the House of Commons on Thursday March 22nd 2007 - Andrew Mackinlay (Thurrock) the courteous man who was so famously polite to Dr David Kelly (Dcsd) is asking some apparently odd Parliamentary questions of the fragrant Margaret, Secretary of State for Caravanners & Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. He apparently wants to know, " for what reason the practice by retiring ambassadors of sending valedictory telegrams has ceased."

Furthermore he asks, " would she place in the Library a copy of the valedictory telegram sent by Ambassador Sir Ivor Roberts KCMG on the conclusion of his ambassadorship to Italy and his retirement from the diplomatic service".

The questions remain unanswered but evidently the contents have been widely circulated in Whitehall and journalistic circles and it's author was interviewed on the BBC4 "PM" program tonight at 5.40 pm. This followed a fascinating article in the Independent todayby Donald Macintyre from Jeruslaem " Former envoy makes devastating attack on Blair's 'bullshit bingo' management culture of diplomacy"

Urbane, precise, well educated, the acme of a british diplomat was the author of remark (subsequently leaked) in 2004 that President George Bush was "al-Qa'ida's best recruiting sergeant" causing what passes for a riot in diplomatic circles, especially when he added,"If there is anyone ready to celebrate his eventual re-election, it is al Qaeda."

Now in his valedictory message , from what he says will be seen as a last gasp of an "old fart" he says the FO should stop wasting time on managment inititaves, reviews, consultants and concentrate on urgent issues that the old Planning department used to spend their time on : "Iraq: How did we get into this mess and how to extricate ourselves" and "Why are we so hated in the Middle East and what should we do about it?".

He also quotes the remark by the former Hong Kong governor and European commissioner Chris Patten's that it was "sad to see experienced diplomats trained to draft brief and lucid telegrams ... terrorised into filling questionnaires by management consultants by the yard."

Until the fragrant Margaret answers Mr McKinleys Parlimanetary question the reader is best advised to turn to today's Independent to glean from their scattered quotes what he has to say about the conduct of Foreign Policy for the last 15-20 years.

He did say something about the way groups of powerful Israelis have power and exercise it... something the Indpendent forgot to mention.Sir Ivor has also said that the Bush administration was "conditioned and pressured by groups of powerful Israelis".... something the Independent forgot to mention but which you can read about in the Scotsman of 21/9/06.

In a TV interview yesterday leader in the Presidential race Nicolas Sarkozy said he' would "consider" withdrawing French troops from Afghanistan adding that he had always supported the decision of President Jacques Chirac to pull 200 elite FFL troops from Afghnaistan at the end of 2006.

Seen as pro American (or at least no Anti-American) this declaration from Sarkozy is is unlikely to go down well with France's NATO allies -- including the United States, Canada and Britain -- who have borne the brunt of fighting a resurgent Taliban in the volatile poppy growing southern province of Helmand.

Of the approximately 35,000 NATO troops now stationed in Afghanistan, some 1,100 are French.

France is currently trying to secure the release of two French aid workers kidnapped in Afghanistan on April 3rd. The two aid workers from the organization Terre d'Enfance (A World for Our Children) were traveling with three Afghan colleagues from Nimroz westwards to neighboring Farah province when they went missing at the beginning of April. Nimroz governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad reported that they were kidnapped on the highway in Khash Rod district [in Nimroz province] and taken to neighboring Helmand,"

A film of the captured workers has been aired 2 weeks ago by the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya and the Canadian Broadcasting Corportion have shown stills(see pics) from the film of the two (Eric and Celine ) with an extract of the voice over said to be spoken by the captives that ,"they were told that if there isn't a positive response on the part of French authorities to what the Taliban is asking, then they will be killed within a matter of days,"

An ultimatum set by their Taliban captors for France to withdraw its troops expires on Friday.Their kidnapping closely follows the kidnapping of Daniele Mastrogiacomo, a reporter for the Italian daily La Repubblica last month in Helmand.

He was released after two weeks when Kabul freed five Taliban officials, but his driver was beheaded and his translator remains hostage.

That deal drew strong criticism in Italy and security officials in Afghanistan who said it would only encourage further such attempts.

Naturally there has been little official reaction but French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy declining to comment on the video, said the video was being analyzed and he stressed France was determined to get the workers released, saying: "More than ever, our objective is to bring them home safe and sound." (BBC report)

Further information is available at the terre d'enfance website the picture above is from their site showiing working with women in Zaranj.

The US Department of Defense release 488-07 "Detainee Transfer Announced" is just another bureaucratic piece of bumf - it tells the witing world that tow nameless detainees are leaving Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for Afghanistan and Morocco.

No name, no explanation - except that The Department of Defense has determined -- through its , "comprehensive review processes" -- that approximately 80 detainees at Guantanamo ***are eligible for transfer or release.

Compared with this bald highly uninformative announcement, it is worth taking the time to read Pages 49-61 of the Inspector General's review of "Matters related to the Death of Cpl P Tillman" Report No IPO2007E001 dated March 26th 2007, which provides mind boggling detail of how Pat Tillman had the back of his head blown off by friendly fire and was awarded the Silver Star *** - especially interesting is the history of the 2 supporting Valorous Award witness statements. (One comical element is that they redact (black out) the name of Pat Tillman's father but refer to him as such)

As an observer it is almost impossible to comprehend how a nation that can snatch people, waft them around the world, torture them, make them disappear in conditions of unbelievable secrecy can then examine it's navel in such delicate detail and with such forensic skill when their "hero" making PR edifice is exposed.

The comparisons with Hitler's Germany everyday become closer.

Footnote

At the time of Pat Tillman's death the Silver Star was awarded as described in

AR 600-8-22 February 25th 1995The Silver Star is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. Army, is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force.The required gallantry, while of a lesser degree than that required for the Distinguished Service Cross, must nevertheless have been performed with marked distinction.

It was Revised AR 600-8-22 issued December 11th 2006

The Silver Star is awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the U.S. Army, is cited for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. The required gallantry, while of a lesser degree than that required for the Distinguished Service Cross, must nevertheless have been performed with marked distinction.

***For more information on the Guantanamo prisoners visit cageprisoners

SNPtv is a brilliant, technically excellent political voice. At last one of the parties has managed to present a straight, simple and honest message. TV comedy actress Elaine C. Smith , never a member of any political party today gives a powerful message from the Street.

It is increasingly evident that Labour are going to lose massively in Scotland.

If you are seriously interested in what shapes political forces and power .. watch it.

Jack Warren, is the VP, Director of Sales and Marketing for wsRadio you can contact him at 858-623-0199 ext 105 or Jack@wsRadio.com.

The reason you might wish to contact him is to buy the sole rights to a series of 5 fascinating interviews by glamorous Jeane Palfrey AKA "The Washington Madam" which she says is "My Side of the Story". Hint : have lots of money.

Lee Mirabel (who she ? ***) conducts the wide ranging discussions in which Madame P describes her California home based business. She elaborates on the way the Feds gave her a "hard time" . ... and explains why the government is specifically targeting her legal escort business.

Madame P says she has done nothing illegal and that her company Pamela Martin and Associates, was or 13 years just a high rise, high cost, high-end adult fantasy firm ...offering ...er... legal sexual and erotic services across the spectrum of adult sexual behavior.

You can be teased by two clips by tuning in to Two audio clips on wsRadio.com.

No 1 is the titillating opportunity to riffle through over 20 Kilos worth of her phone records from her basement and filing cabinets that the Feds missed when they seized goods from her home. Montgomery Blair Sibley civil defence attorney to Palfrey warned the Big Swinging Dicks of the beltway before she was indicted on March 8th by threatening to sell phone records of 10,000 plus names to help defer Palfrey’s mounting legal bills. “The List”, 20 Kilos of telephone bills, logs some 200,000 calls over 13 years. Injucted from selling this they gave it to ABC in New York who are busy trawling through it but haven't published anything yet.

No 2 explains why ex advisor Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Atlantic Council to Harlan K. Ullman was outed as a client. Madame P explains that although not too well known he was a member of the Dick Cheny Circle in the White House , knew Colin Powell ..... and was her first shot in the ...er .. "Shock and Awe" campaign.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Danish company Novozyme are leaders in producing the enzymes required in bio-mass breakdown for producing bio-ethanol. However rising living standards in Asia and the growth of sales of washing machines means sales of detergent enzymes is a fast growing market as well. Detergent enzymes replace petrochemical ingredients which have increased in cost and enzymes are biodegradeable making them more envirnmentally and consumer friendly.

Novozymes was awarded a contract from the US National Renewable Energy lab (NREL) to reduce the cost of enzymes for cellulosic ethanol. In a 5 year period they succeeded in reducing costs significantly, to a position where enzyme costs are no longer a significant cost.

Compared with last year , worldwide, Q1 Sales grew by 18%, operating profit by 15%, and net profit for the period by 30%, with earnings per share rising by 34%.

Since an ex controller of Northern Ireland State employed terrists called Jonathon Evans took over from statuesque Dame Eliza Manningham Buller the threat level with it's re-assuring message has disappered form the MI5 Threat page. Resorting to SpyBlog who keeps an keen eye on these things, the alert logo has also silently disappeared without any explanation from both the Home Office and the Intelligence.gov.uk websites,

What you get now if you look for threat levels (currently Severe - an attack is highly likely ) is this ......

THREAT LEVELS: THE SYSTEM TO ASSESS THE THREAT FROM INTERNATIONAL TERRORISMThreat levels in the UK

The first specially modified transport, a Boeing 747-400 named the Dreamlifter, delivered it's very first load to Everett on Tuesday with the delivery of the horizontal stabilizer made by Alenia Aeronautica( a subsidiary of Finnmeccanica) at its facility in Foggia, Italy.

Scott Strode the 787 VP said on a bad phone line that "In the coming weeks we will receive other major assemblies for the first Dreamliner. he sent us this quick snap as it was unloaded.

Boeing claim the twin engined , two aisle 787 Dreamliner is the fastest-selling airplane in aviation history, with firm orders for 544 airplanes from 44 airlines. Air Canada (have added 23 to their original order) and Virgin have just signed up.

Boeing earned US$877 million, or US$1.13 per share, in Q1 '07 ended March 31, compared with US$692 million, or 88 cents per share, a year earlier.

It is quite evident that when Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke of the Metropolitan Police "The Sphincter of the Yard" entered the quaintly named "The Ideas Space" at the Policy Exchange on Tuesday night at 6.30pm this was part of a carefully hatched and well executed publicity coup.

A large Press element thronged the place and BBC were filming this curious event which had not been advertised nor appeared in the events lists of the Policy Exchange ... even more curiously a thorough site search for said Plod yields, Zero, nada, nothing.

He spoke for approximately one hour, as the first of annual lectures to commemorate Colin Cramphorn (pic), a former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire (Died Dec 1st 2006 aged 50 of prostate cancer) known by has men as "The Gazelle" - Clarke and Cramphorn worked together on the 7/7 bombings - a somber and wide-ranging assessment of the threat facing his country according to the New York Times today ,which must have been the equivalent of Valium - because the assembled throng of Press picked up only on the one item to report. (Full text only available here courtesy Lord Patel)

He cited as an example police raids in Birmingham last February when reporters in London knew details of an alleged plot to behead a British Muslim soldier “almost before the detainees had arrived at the police stations to which they were being taken for questioning.”

The relationship of the Press / Police might be benignly describe4d as symbiotic or more ma;ignly incestuous. Editors love a good murder / rape / paedophile attacke and memebers of the force are not averse to the odd pint or two. Evidently knowledge of this relationship has come rather late in the life of "The Sphincter of the Yard".

From this oracular, remark, loaded with zero information and devoid of substance David Cameron hounded the Prime Minister - the papers nudge nudge wink wink that one of John Reid's myrmidoms or maybe even a top cop had spilt the beans.

Yet the public are public are reminded again of a case where it was alleged without a scrap of evidence, in which no charges were laid, that the taking of a Muslim UK member of the armed forces was to be kidnapped was planned. It is to be hoped that no ambitious amateur drama company re-surrect Brendan Behan's comic tragedy, "the Hostage" lest they be charged with fomenting and supporting terrism.

All this display of naivete is quite charming when one considers his counterpart (as they say in these circles) at MI5, Mr Evans in the 80's and 90's armed, guided, supplied arms to and arranged for destruction of evidence in supporting terrorists (both Catholic and Protestant) who killed, maimed, sold drugs and bombed, all with the support of the State.

Which is, let us face it, somewhat more serious than someone letting slip to their favourite newdesk some gossip.

But of course it all helps us take our eye off the activities of the Lady Dame Pauline Neville Jones Fan Club.

It may be of interest that at Colin Cramphorn's funeral mourners were led by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Chief Inspector of Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary and former Chief Constable of the then RUC, under which Mr Cramphorn served as Deputy 1998 to 2001 and took over when Flangan became an Inspector of Constabulary in 2002. The Guradian obituary spoke of Cramphorn's grasp of the bigger picture which was completed by his interest in religion and faith communities. He studied theology and law as a mature student at King's College London, and"was a voracious reader, especially of work which engaged with ethics and the impact of religious belief on the secular world".

UPDATE Mid Day

Radio 4 "World at One" spent 20 mins (out of 30 mins) on this topic and revealed onlythat ex Home Office Employee Shami Chakrabarti, the gamin , doe eyed Director of Liberty had asked John Reid in a letter at the time of the raid about leaks, which he said were "nuthin to do with me guv", Liberty have and outstanding Freedom of Information request with the Home Office which they have sought 2 delays on responding on the same matter.

The BBC report that it is also alleged that a national newspaper sent 3 journalists to Birmingham (which they no doubt saw as a great trial) the evning of the raid after having been tipped off by a nameless source.

The Guradian today make one of those worthless claims that they have been told that an aide to John Reid, the home secretary, was responsible for one of those leaks, and has also learnt that there is strong suspicion among the highest-ranking police at Scotland Yard that one of their own officers also briefed the media.

(Full text of Peter Clarke's lecture is only available here, courtesy Lord Patel - WARNING only for those with high boredom threshold and a fondness for the banal - eg " He (CC) realised that if the public are to have confidence, it is vital that policing is properly understood by those who represent the interests of citizens at both local and national level, by local and central government, by the judicial system, and of course by the media. " or "But it is important to understand that this analysis of the changing nature of terrorism did not come to us in a flash of inspiration on 12th September 2001. It came about as a result of us doing exactly what the title of this lecture suggests we should do – Learn from Experience. ) Not having learnt presumably that you do not begin sentences with a conjunction presumably.

Lord knows how many hours of Radio / TV time and acres of forests were felled to print the story that the Press were alerted to a Police raid on alleged terrists and the boss is upset. More veiled references and unpointed innuendoes than a post match briefing by Mourinho.

Bosnian Minister of Defense Selmo Cikotic announced on began on Monday the process of eliminating 5,760 tons of excessive ammunition, as a part of the ammunition control project by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) had started.

Bosnia will need 6.5 million U.S. dollars to destroy the remaining 25,000 to 30,000 tons of ammunition, and only the initial stage of the project is expected to cost 1.5 to 2 million U.S. dollars. Spain has donated US$ 540,00400,000 Britain US$1 Mn for the work. The Dutch government will also be involved.

It was of course the Bosnians, aided, supported, armed by the US and provided with aerial intelligenceand satellite data that carried out the ethnic cleansing of 250,000 Serbs in Kranje Luka...which was to a large extent a pay back for the slaughter of Bosnians during World War II.

Younes Tsouli, Waseem Mughal and Tariq al-Daour are in Woolwich crown court on a number of charges under the Terrorism Act 2000, including inciting another person to commit an act of terrorism wholly or partly outside the United Kingdom which would, if committed in England and Wales, constitute murder. They were also defrauding credit card companies.

Prosecuting counsel Mark Ellison said: "Behind the apparent outward normality of their daily lives and for at least a year before they were arrested, the truth is that each of these three young men firmly believed and supported and set about inciting others to follow an extreme ideology of violent holy war against so-called disbelievers."

Amongst materials shown to the court was film found in Bosnia , full of helpful hints how to make an exploding jacket - apparently this film was linked at the site where it was found, by other documents, to the defendents.

Q. Military explosives (which can be seen in the fillum (see still from BBC News)) are evidently readily available - as whole container loads of cigarettes are regularly smuggled into the UK - is it stretch to believe that importing such material instead of pfaffing about with Hydrogen peroxide , Chappati Flour and Lucozade ?

The jury was played an hour-long video about the September 11 attacks on the US, which it was claimed was found in Mr al-Daour's home. Much of the film - called The 19 Martyrs after the 19 men who allegedly carried out the atrocities - is narrated by Osama bin Laden in Arabic with English subtitles... and is totally bogus. Whilst this may have been entertaining for the the eight-woman, four-man jury it is curiously at variance with the reported remarks of Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI on June 5th 2006. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.”

If interested, go to the FBI "Most wanted" page for Bin Laden...No mention of 9/11 or any connection with 9/11.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Now that Vietnam is part of the World Trade Organisation many Taiwanese companies, like their Japanese counterparts, are looking to move some of their manufacturing plants in China to the northern provinces of Ha Tay, Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, and Thai Binh.

Compal Electronics Inc, the world’s second-largest laptop contract manufacturer, (customers include Dell, Compaq, HP, Fujitsu-Siemens) and is also a large manufacturer of mobile phones have been considering a US$2- 2.5 Billion investment in the northern province of Vinh Phuc since early last year.Component makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, (Foxconn with US$26 BN annual sales) is looking for more cost-effective manufacturing sites outside China.

Compal annual revenues reached US 7.025 billion dollarsin 2005 with a worldwide workforce over 20,000. They forecast last month that its shipments of notebook computers would increase to 20 million units this year from 14.5 million last year. It manufactures 24 million units a year at its factories in Kunshan, China. Q1 2007 sales showed a 63% increase on 2006.

Investment in fields like semiconductors and information and communications technology look to invest in Northern provinces because northern Viet Nam is near southern China, which will enable them to link up with their plants there and facilitate supply." Compal have just invested in the Chinese company (NanJiang) Top-Com for the Manufacture, sales and after-sales service of LCD and back light module and related optoelectronic products for Digital Camera,PDA, Cell Phone and LCD Displays.

The Netherlands-headquartered Hoya Vision Care, an arm of the Japanese Hoya Corporation, is to establish the world’s biggest eyeglass lens facility in the south of Vietnam. They already have 45 per cent market share in Japan and 14 per cent of the global market, making it the top lense supplier in Japan and number three in the world.

Hoya Vision Care operates two factories in Thailand and one in China, which produce a combined output of 50 million lenses per year, they also have one in Hungary.“Vietnam’s investment policies are more attractive than Thailand’s while the nation’s infrastructure facilities including power supply and transport routes are better than in China,” says their company newsletter.

Hoya already operate Hoya Glass Disk Vietnam , which was established in November 2004 in Hanoi’s Thang Long Industrial Park. The company’s US$230 million facility, produces glass disks for hard disk drives, and has 2,750 employees and intends employing 5,500.

Lower wages and tax breaks promised by the Vietnamese government provide an incentive but it also gives companies a route to the Russian market Viet Nam’s exports to Russia were worth $413.2 million last year, and imports $455.7 million.Viet Nam's economy is growing at a breakneck speed which is expected to continue at the rate of 8/9% a year.

Energy demand, as elsewhere is becoming a limiting factor as demand frows at around 15-17 % this year and 20 % next year.

In prospect is a closer relationship with Chinese power plants through the development of power sharing - this isn't seen as a difficult task and will nvolve bilateral agreements on power purchase.

This rapid economic growth is also attracting inward ivestment from retailers, the German Metro Cash & Carry Group, the first major retailer to enter Viet Nam, now has a network of 8 supermarkets and current sales of US$500 per year, which are claimed to be growing at 45 %.

US consulting firm AT Kearney has just released its annual ranking of retail investment attractiveness among 30 emerging markets, they now rate Vietnam third just behind leaders India and Russia.Vietnam is said to be opening the country’s service market in a phased way in line with its commitment to gain a membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

France’s, Groupe Bourbon, opened in Vietnam in 1998 operating three hyper-markets in Hanoi, Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City, and Germany’s Metro Cash&Carry, which opened in 2001 with a $120 million investment licence to open eight wholesale Cash&Carry centres in Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City.

From 2004 retail restrictions began to dissapear, with foreign companies able to take a 30 per cent share in local operations. This encouraged French-owned Casino and the Hong Kong Dairy Farm chain to invest in the country.

In October 2005 the market was liberated further to allow Western retailers to own a 49 per cent share in Vietnamese businesses. And by 2008 US companies will be allowed to wholly-own distribution centres, in a deal that may be widened to include other Western companies.

It has been rumoured that Tesco is interested in entering the market, and many media sources earlier this month suggested the same is true of Wal-Mart. South Korea’s leading retailer, Lotte Shopping, is also looking to open a chain of wholesale and retail super-stores in Ho Chi Minh City in a major US$15 Mn investment.

Lotte has recently filed an application for an investment licence at the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), plans a $15-million investment in the initial stage of development. The following stages will see Lotte Shopping’s investment value in the country rise roughly 30-fold in the next 12 years.

Lotte Shopping is one of the retail operations of the Lotte Group, which is recognised as the eighth largest business group in Korea in terms of assets. Lotte Shopping is currently operating Korea’s largest chain of department stores. The chain includes 19 Lotte stores with an average floor space of 1,100 sq.m and a total annual revenue of almost $6 billion. The Lotte group has already made investments in Vietnam through the fast-food chain Lotteria.

Vietnam is opening the country’s service market in a phased way in line with its commitment to gain a membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Parkson, with 36 stores in Malaysia and 40 others in China, and which gains an average annual sales revenue of $1.32 billion, has also planned 10 retail stores in major cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Can Tho, Hue and Vung Tau with total investment capital of US$70 million. China’s Shenghui Group is also exploring ways to enter Vietnam.

With average annual growth of 20 per cent in retail sales, Vietnam is proving to be very attractive to foreign retailing businesses.

“We choose Vietnam to transfer our high-value added lenses bases and laboratories globally here for the country’s attractive business environment and a good supply of well-educated workers." said Gerald Bottero, president and CEO of Hoya Vision Care ... which is a remark that people in the UK seeking inward investment might consider carefully.

It would be unreasonable to describe Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke of the Metropolitan Police "The Sphincter of the Yard" as the "Dumbest PC in Britain", as he would be up against some fairly stiff opposition. Last night we were told early this morning by Jim Naughtie on BBC Radio 4 "Today" program that Mr Clarke chose his words carefully (Ho.Ho.Ho.) when he said that there were a "small number of misguided individuals who betray confidences".

By doing so, they had compromised investigations, revealed sources of ife-saving intelligence and "put lives at risk" during major investigations... these people were ""beneath contempt".

By a simple oversight no doubt he forgot to mention that these headline remarks were made at a meeting of the Policy Exchange - a charity, which describes itself as a think tank.

Oddly this think tank ahd nit advertised Mr Clarke's speech nor reported it. However one may get a flavour of their political orientation by their list of recent speakers, Micahel Gove MP and George Oborne MP who share a common desire to attache themselves tro the fundament of Conservative Party Leader David Cameron MP (of whom more later). Ex Conservative Party leader Willima Hague has addressed the Policy Exchange, as has Rupert Murdoch's "thing" and hence trusted henchman who is oft seen visiting Downing Street (both No 10 and 11) , Daniel Finkelstein is another Right Wing smooth operator. To represent the military Mark Urban "Myth" and Sir Rupert Smith (Ex Deputy Supreme Allied Commander )had a public chat recently discussing the The Limitations of Modern Warfare.

Whilst they would all be seen as fully paid up members of the Lady Dame Pauline Neville Jones Fan Club readers will be very familiar with their very regular appearances on BBC2 "Newsnight"

The Policy Exchange is a rather small venue and can handle 60 peope with drinkie poos - the "The Sphincter of the Yard" is not a big ticket and readers might guess the audience for his witty apercus on the state of terrism as practised in the UK. 3 ? 33 ? 333? ..Phone our Hotline telephone number with your guess answer.

Of course this unremarkable brief and uninformative contribution was merely a device - the real action came in the House of Commons at Prime Minister's Question Time (12.00)when David Cameron having detached Gove and Oborne from his nether regions challenged the Prime Minister (still it appears Tony Blair) to have an enquiry to discover these "leakers", Tony Blair obliged and refused and David blew hard chuntered on and sat down.

If Tony won't have an inquiry into why 54 people were killed and 120 injured when 4 bombs blew up on 7/7/2005 he is not going to start running round finding out who at N0 10 rang up the Evening Standard to blow the gaff on Operation Gamble.

Remarkably BBC4 News at One (One o clock - ie 1 hour earlier) managed to spend 10 minutes on the pointless parliamentary posing and arrange an interview with yet another ex Tory MP in the story Mr Michael Howard and Nick Clegg the Liberal Democrat terrist.

It is quite evident that the stupid, ill educated, neanderthal Clarke (pic with his lunch bucket) remains in his position merely as a foil - that this stumbling, bumbling fool who has masterminded the greatest series of disaters in apprehending "terrists" is still in office, confirms that he is merely there to prevent any serious examination of how the public are educated to live with a threat of terrism and effectively conceal exactly what the source and authorship of the "continuing terrist menace " is.

Consider the main points of his disastrous career as a terrist hunter

1 ) Young men are supposed to want to blow up Manchester United - who apparently considered buying tickets for Manchester United v Liverpool were easily traded commodities. Anyone in Manchester knows these things don't exist ...although you may purchase them from 300lb West Indian gentlemen who stroll around Busby Way but you might consider it unwise to ask for your money back when turned away from the turnstile when you disciver your ticket is not quite "kosher"

2) The death of DC Oake, in Crumpsall, Manchester, principally a result of the shanbles of organisation and failed communicationed between the Met and the GMP because nobody told Oakes why he was arresting the men for over 1 hour.

3) Forest Gate, where responding to "sound intelligence ((C) Sphincter of the Yard) 350 policemen stripped three fami;ies of their home, dignity and possessions, shot one of them, allowed the grossest allegations (rape, child porn on computers) to circulate without the slightest evidence - and in the process cost the public purse hundreds of thousands of pounds.

4) The absurdity of allowing the craziest of ideas to circulate about terrist use of Osmium tetroxide.

5) Allowed lies about times of trains used by the 7/7 "bombers" to be circulated in the "timeline" without correction, until the Home Secretary was forced to accept evidence from members of the public who had unearthed the necessary evidence. (he is however, blameless in the de Menezes murder)

6) Made the grossest claims about bomb making on board aircraft from the most unlikely ingredients - which resulted in chaos, delay, enormous cost and dsiprution and the introduction of quite uneccesary rules about hand luggage (observed by no other country)... asa result of which no charges have beenn brought.

7) Charged three men recently with assisting the 7/7 bombers and after making remarks abour not releasing information we found the tabloid press had lurid details of plots to bomb the Quen and Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the Eye in the Sky.

8) Have allowed US papers to publish the grossest lies about evidence, print pictures which must form official evidence and also print pictures of devices such as nail bombs which are pure fabrications.

9) We await after 29 days deliberation by the jury (even after the judge allowed majority verdicts) and no verdicts have been forthcoming - the longest ever deliberation by a jury. Evidently the evidence produce was incapable of providing a satisfactory case - even after a witness who lied to save his own skin was paraded as a "star witness".

This does not exhaust the crass, stupid, illogical, pointless, mendacious, dishonest, incompetent and hugely expensive efforts of Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke of the Metropolitan Police and his terrist assistants. But it will do for now.

UPDATE

BBC 2 "PM" news program had ten minuted at the head of the news covering this fabriated news item - it also lead the news on the hour. IT appears that BBC journalists in the West Midlands were advised of the "Gamble" raids prior to lifting the suspects by the Police but the London Newsdesks received more information about the alleged plot to kidnap a Muslim serving soldier whilst the raids were in progress.

Apparently 3 of the suspects were never asked about such a plot when interviewed upon release.

Menzies Campbell the Liberal Party leader says the Police should examine the source of the leaks. Investigating leaks from the Police, .... that should raise a smile in the ranks of journalists.

All in all (we haven't had the piece on newsnight yet) a satisfactory day for the Fan Club. Based on nothinbg more than the idle innuendo of the Sphincter of the Yared we have had demands to the Prime Minister for enquiries, serious commentaries, third rate pols queuing up for a quote ..for what ? simply to notch up the terror alert.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform , chaired by Senator Henry Waxman D-Calif. , Bush's everpresent gad fly and hopefully his nemesis, is holding hearings today as part of a shocking investigation into misleading information supplied by the U.S. military.

"The government violated its most basic responsibility,The bare minimum we owe our soldiers and their families is the truth," said Waxman when opening the meeting.

Pat Tillman, a pro-football hero, seduced by the drumbeat of patriotism after 9/11 threw up a US$4 Mn contract with Arizona Cardinals and enlisted. he served in Iraq and servived, he survived in Afghanistan and was killed by friendly fire. His brother Kevin told the Congressional Committee that the Bush administration twisted and "invented" the facts of his brother's death to distract public attention from the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib.

Kevin Tillman, still a serving soldier said the U.S. Army fabricated a story of his brother's heroism in action, knowing he was killed by friendly fire, they constructed not only a story of combat action -- they even awarded him an unearned silver medal with a spurious citation, whose author the Tillman family seek -- they lied about his medical care, saying he was transferred to a field hospital for continued medical care for 90 minutes after the incident, when the back of his head was blown off.

"These are deliberate and calculated lies" and "a deliberate act of deceit," Tillman said and went on to claim that the official Army account of his brother's death in 2004 was "utter fiction…intended to deceive the family and more importantly the American people." and listed the deliberate lies ;

1. That "crucial evidence was destroyed,"2. The autopsy was "not done according to regulation"3. Eyewitness testimony "disappeared into thin air."

The reason for this catalogue of deceit was U.S. combat deaths had also been twisted to fit Pentagon public relations needs. In his brother's case, the reason for the manipulation, he said, is that "they shifted the focus from the grotesque abuse of Abu Ghraib to a great American who died a hero's death." They also obstructed enquiries by amany people in every way imaginable.

"Pat wanted to leave a positive legacy," his brother said. Calling his death a tragedy, he said that "the attempt to hijack his virtue is simply horrific" and he asked the committee to find how his brother died and who lied to cover it up. "Anything less than the truth is a betrayal of those values," he said.

Private Jessica Lynch still affected by injuries received in a road accident and who was taken prisoner while in Iraq and rescued by U.S. troops, also testified to how her own story became a fable of feminine heroism under fire . Saying there were real heroes during the fighting -- including her friend, a Hopi soldier named Lori Piestewa who was killed in action, Lynch wondered out loud why U.S. officials hyped her stor y, "why they lied and tried to make me a hero."

She said the public is capable of discerning the truth. "The truth of war is not always easy," she said. "The truth is always more heroic than the hype."

Fasten your seat belts as the lies from 9/11. Saddam's "WMD" and everything else about this dishonest and corrupt alliance of the UK and US Governments is exposed.

It's going to be a bumpy ride. The nation are going to see all this unfold on the six o clock news tonight - Time we had another terrist atrocity somewhere.

PS A suicide car bomber struck a patrol base northeast of Baghdad on Monday and killed nine U.S. soldiers and wounded 20, officials said. Over 40 (at least) Iraqi civilians died during the day and 60 (at least) were seriously injured.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) reported Q1 '07 earnings of $690 million, or $1.60 a share, up tear to Date (YTD) on $591 million, or $1.34 a share a rise of 17% .

LMT are the US No. 1 defense contractor, with $26.6 billion in 2006 Defense Department prime contract awards, said sales in the three months ended March 31 increased less than 1% to $9.28 billion from $9.21 billion.

Lockheed's expects yearly earnings to increase 35/40 cents a share for an annual $6.20 to $6.35 a share in 2007.

GPS Wars

In a little noticed announcement last week the U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $6 million contract to develop and integrate a demonstration payload that will temporarily transmit a third civil signal on a modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite.

This new contract directs Lockheed Martin and its navigation payload supplier ITT in Clifton, N.J. to provide an on-orbit demonstration capability for the new civil signal. The signal, located on the L5 frequency (1176MHz) will comply with international radio frequency spectrum requirements. The Block IIR-M spacecraft with the demonstration payload is planned for launch in 2008.

No explanation has been given for this trial but the further separation of military and cicil signals suggests and attempt to improve the capacity in certain situtations to switch off / deny (or interfere) with the civilian signal - which boat drivers(sic) of the Royal Navy it appears, rely on for navigating in Iraqi/Irani waters.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)have announced Gross mortgage lending soared in the UK to a March record of £31.3 billion a 22% increase on February's lending figure of £25.5 billion and 10% higher than the £28.3 billion lent in March 2006.

CML Director General Michael Coogan said: " .. we continue to expect mortgage lending to reach a record £360 billion this year." It reflects of course the continuing rise in nationwide house prices reported by the Halifax today of 11.1 %.

In London prcies increased by 14.9 % on this time last year and are up 2.2 % in the last 3 months.

The survey finds the average house price in London is 297,132 pounds. This is 104,818 pounds above the national average of 192,314 pounds.

Judge, Sir Michael Astill, 69 (pic -Knighted 1996) told the jury of 12 of their peers, sound men (well 5F 7M) and true, on Friday April 14th (they had been deliberating for 21 days) he would now accept a majority verdict of either 11-1 or 10-2 if they were unable to reach unanimous verdicts on all the charges.

Doesn't sound as though they are ready to agree on any basis in "the biggest terrorism trial in Britain since the IRA cases of the 1970s.". Maybe the extraordinary testimony of Mohammed Judaid Babar, a 33-year-old New York City university dropout and convicted terrorist .... When he arrived in Pakistan (where he went to learn to fight) , he said he met 15 to 20 other men, many from London and the bedroom community of Crawley. They also were there "to fight."

Do you recall the names of those men? Mr. Waters asked.

"Ausmann," better known as defendant Omar Khyam, 24.

"Abdul Waheed," -- defendant Waheed Mahmood, 33.

"Abdul Rehman," -- defendant Anthony Garcia, 27.

"Khalid," -- defendant Salahuddin Amin, 30.

"Tanweer, from London." One of the four suicide bombers who killed themselves and 52 London subway and bus commuters last July 7 was Shehzad Tanweer, 22.

This ace witness had arrived in court in a screaming police convoy that deposited Mr. Babar at the Old Bailey after retrieving him from the secret location where he is being hidden. Overhead, police and media helicopters trailed the speeding caravan to the courthouse, where it was met by a squad of intimidating London police officers wielding large black military assault rifles.

For opponents of the USUK Extradtion /treaty, the key issue here is British justice for British crimes, it is not about the avoidance of due legal process where there is a crime to be prosecuted. While the context of thetreaty has been the "war on terror", the treaty has also been used against "The Natwest Three" working in the City. If there has been insufficient evidence (or maybe unwillingness ? ED.)to bring a conviction for offences committed by British citizens on British soil, then why should they stand trial in a foreign country on these same charges?

The US-UK Extradition treaty signed in 2003 has been widely criticised for being a one-sided agreement. For American citizens to be extradited to the UK maintains the requirement to provide "probable cause", whereas the old requirement to provide "prima facie" evidence for British citizens to be extradited to the USA has been removed.

This removed or restricted key legal protections open to suspects anddefendants, and it was far more stringent than the EU-US Treaty on extradition signed in 2003.

On the other side of the argument, however, supporters would point out that, in essence, the treaty is fair because both legal systems must agree that the evidence is sufficient to warrant an extradition, and both retain the use of a veto if unsatisfied. Moreover, if UK defendents are going to face trail in a US court, then they will retain proper legal rights and representation. And while standards ofevidence may differ in the two countries, this is an insufficient reason to prevent extradition. Finally some argue that the terrorist threat is serious enough to justify the treaty, whatever its shortcomings.

Gareth Peirce is a leading human rights lawyer in the UK. She has represented numerous detainees held in Belmarsh Prison under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, worked to get the British citizens at Guantanamo released, and in the 1980s challenged the miscarriages of justice in the cases of the Guilford Four and the Birmingham Six (not to mention acting for Craig Murray). She asked the government to withdraw the CBE award offered to her in 1999.

Mudassar Arani was born in Uganda and moved to Great Britain in 1972. She is a leading UK Human Rights attorney representing terrorist suspects in Britain, among them the case of Abu Hamza, currently facing terrorism-related charges and xtradition to the United States.

Moazzam Begg is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, who has co-authored a book about his experiences, Enemy Combatant, and is a human-rights campaigner. He acts as a spokesman for Cageprisoners, a Muslim-run human rights organisation that campaigns for the rights of prisoners held at Guantanamo and in "ghost sites".

Mark Spragg is a partner in the Litigation team at Jeffery Green Russell, and heads one of London's foremost fraud and white collar crime practices. He is well known for his involvement with the extradition case to the US involving the "Natwest Three". (see pic)

Free entrance. Registration by email to yahya@thecitycircle.com. You must print out the confirmation and bring it with you, otherwise you will not be admitted on the night. Confirmations will not be sent out after 12 noon on Friday. Please direct any other event or media enquiries to Yahya Birt via yahya@thecitycircle.com or on 07886 487 232.

TIME: 6.45pm – 8.30pm, Friday 27 April (please arrive early as there will be registration at the door)LOCATION: Main Hall (Ground Floor), Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place,London W1H 4LP.

Lord Patel suggests that any members / employes of the UK Secret Services, Metropolitan Police Terrorist Unit, Mossad, CIA, NSA,FBI,CGS,BND or their agents make themselves know to the organisers when they arrive and provide proof of their identity.

*****

Corin Redgrave, co-founder of Peace and Progress said on 20th April 2005:

“One of the principle human rights concerns that we, Peace and Progress have, is detention without trial. Babar Ahmad's case is a perfect example of that and how a British citizen can be arrested in this country, severely beaten and tortured by the arresting police, released by the police without charge, with no evidence to bring against him, but nevertheless face extradition to America under conditions where it is impossible for him to prove his innocence, and even face the possibility of torture and execution. It's a form of judicial kidnapping which has been agreed by Britain and America .

Zut Alors! The Important Bit ... How to get there ...

DIRECTIONS TO VENUE: Come out of the Edgware Road Underground Station Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City and Circle Line) on to Edgware Road. Turn left and walk up for a few minutes until you see Cafe Nero. Crawford Place will be on your left. Turn into Crawford Place and number 45 is located on the left a few minutes up. (Probly you will see a lot of shifty guys with crew cuts, lightweight belted raincoats, dark glasses and earphones with pink curly plastic bits hanging about outside - if you do, you know you have found it)

LINK TO VENUE:http://www.multimap.com/map/browse?client=public&db=pc&cidr_client=none&lang=&pc=W1H4LP&advanced=&client=public&addr2=&quicksearch=W1H+4LP&addr3=&addr1

Toyota Motor have announced that they sold a whopping 9% (2.26 Mn Total) more vehicles in Q1 (Jan-March) than General Motors - the first time ever and claim World No 1 position.

Toyota's claim they overtook GM by pushing hybrid technology at a time when Detroit was stacking up inventories of trucks and sport utility vehicles. GM and Ford Motor Co. also sellihurtng nuk volumes to rental agencies, ato low (if any) margin - hitting group profitability.

In March, Toyota's U.S. sales rose 11.7% to 242,675 vehicles, while GM's sales fell to 345,418 from 359,705. Ford's U.S. sales in March dropped to 264,975 cars from 291,146.

Apparently Toyota trucks are a popular choice with the Taliban as a "technical" because they are rugged, robust and very, very reliable in harsh conditions.... that could make an interesting TV ad ? Toyota from the folks who brought you Pearl Harbour and defeat by the Taliban in Toyota technicals.

Hackney born Trevor Brooks AKA Abu Izadeen coverted to Islam in 1994 and started working life as an electrician.He is said to have acted as a bodyguard for Omar Bakri Mohqammed but now exists on benefits with his wife Mokhtaria with his 3 children.

He first came to the notice of the puzzle palace people when he was involved with Finsbury park Mosque in the 1990's with Omar Bakri Mohammed and Abu al Masri.

The Jamaican background fierce Islamist, probably first entered the public consciousness on 20 September 2006, when he and Anjem Choudary disrupted Home Secretary John Reid's first public meeting in Leyton with Muslims sincebeing appointed Home Secretary, notable he said Reid was an "enemy" of Islam.

"How dare you come to a Muslim area when over 1,000 Muslims have been arrested?" he said. "You are an enemy of Islam and Muslims, you are a tyrant. Shame on all of us for sitting down and listening to him."

Continuing his diatribe, Izzadeen said Mr Reid, Tony Blair and George Bush could "all go to hell"... not unique sentimentys or views restricted to mad mullahs.

Interviewed by the Welsh know all John Humphrys 2 days later on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Abu Izadeen sounded off about the state of Britain and stated his aim was to have the UK become an Islamic state and that this should be achieved without following any democratic process. Recording here

On February 5th this year ITVaired parts a video found on the internet said to have been recorded in June 2004 of him preaching at regents Park Mosque in London, with a call to murder British and American Muslim soldiers:

"Whoever allies himself with the Kaffirs against the believers - he is one of them. So those so-called enemies to Allah who join the British Government - 'cos remember the British Government, my dear Muslim brothers, are crusaders... crusaders come to kill and rape Muslims. Whoever joins them - he who joins the British Army, the American Army, he is a mortal kaffir and his only hukum (punishment) is for his head to be removed. Indeed, whoever changes his deen (religious way of life); kill him."

On February 8th ,Abu Izzadeen, 31, was held in Leyton High Road, east London, under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006. Scotland Yard said it related to an "on-going inquiry".

It is understood to relate to a speech he gave in the West Midlands area - thought to be Birmingham - last year, long before he heckled Reid in Leyton.

Remarkably today Rupe's Rag the Times today has a lengthy article about Abu Izadeen ..

...."Once a friendly Christian, he now backs the bombers" with the byline of Nicola Woolcock and Sean O’Neill, in which they claim "The Crown Prosecution Service has not ruled out charges against Abu Izzadeen, which may include solicitation to murder and withholding information about acts of terrorism."

They also state that In lectures given last month (date not given) at an unknown London location, Abu Izzadeen said that a war was being fought to make Islamic law “completely dominant” in Britain, and that “all Jews and Christians are going to hell fire”.

He also praised Mullah Omar, the Taleban leader, saying: “This man is a winner.” His lectures, entitled The Christian Crusades parts 1 and 2, describe conflict in the Middle East and Britain as a present-day crusade.

Abu Izzadeen said: “There is a war here [in Britain]. Maybe you don’t have weapons, but there is [sic] arrests against the Muslim community, there is brutality by the police. It is a form of war against the Muslims here as well.” He elicited laughter when he said: “If I said to you we’re going to conquer Rome, or if I said to you, we’re going to kill George Bush and we’re going to kill Tony Blair, you said to me: ‘Which come first bro?’.

They continue to quote extensivly and provide a history of the Saved Sect and lurid details from it's website (The organisation is banned) which is said to carry a "statement from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the commander of al-Qaeda in Iraq." - it also calls for followers to stop following the World Cup because soccer plants the seeds of nationalism, and is therefore part of a 'colonial crusader scheme' to divide Muslims and cause them to stray from the vision of a unified Islamic identity" The Guradian had an article on the Sect July 18th 2006

The security services believe the Saved Sect's website operates in tandem with al-Ghurabaa's website to disseminate an Islamist message under the umbrella of the sect Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jammaa'ah.(we have no idea of the url of either and would welcome details - the previous address http://www.thesavedsect.com/ returns an error message of server not found)Learn more about the odd David Myatt ***ex Nazi (a founder of the hardline British National Socialist Movement (NSM)) and latterly a Muslim convert (he styles himslef Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt) who is wrapped up / invloved with the Saved Sect here

With great perception (coincidence ? Serendipity ? Police/ MI5/6/7/8/9 tip-off ?)the Times point out that ;

Legislation tightening the Terrorism Act came into force days ago, when it became illegal to glorify or incite terrorism. A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The list of proscribed organisations is kept under constant review. The Terrorism Act 2006 widens the criteria of proscription to include those groups which glorify terrorism. All possible candidates for proscription will be considered against these criteria.”

At between 4am and 6 am this morning Metropolitan Police Terrorist command of Peter Clarke the Sphincter of the Yard arrested Abu Izadeen and five other (as yet un-named) followers of this band of theatrical Islamist happy clappers. presumablt to be charged under the recently activated parts of the Terrorism Act. (5 arrested in London and 1 in Luton)

Is Abu a threat to the stability of the State ? Is he in fact and employee of the more secret army of the State acting as a honeypot to identify more clearly the deranged who seek a new Caliphate ?

One thing is for certain, his crazy antics take up huge amounts of Plod (and others) time, effort and money - leaving many people wondering how he gets access to meetings where the Home Secrtetary can be lengthily and continuously barracked by this comical clown whilst the video cameras roll.

Watch this space.

**** A pamphlet he wrote, A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution, described as a "detailed step-by-step guide for terrorist insurrection,"was said to have inspiredDabvid Copeleand the London nail bomber who left nailbombs in areas frequented by London's black, Asian, and gay communities.

By a curious coincidence Rupes Rag published an article a year ago to the day April 24th 2006"What the neo-Nazi fanatic did next: switched to Islam - Two faces, two converts - two Muslim extremists in Britain" by the same Nicola Woolcock writing today and Dominic Kennedy.

"Myatt said recently that he had given up hope of a breakthrough by the far Right and believed that Muslims were the best hope for combating Zionism and the West. “There will not be an uprising, a revolution, in any Western nation, by nationalists, racial nationalists, or National Socialists — because these people lack the desire, the motivation, the ethos, to do this and because they do not have the support of even a large minority of their own folk,” he said.

“If these nationalists, or some of them, desire to aid us, to help us . . . they can do the right thing, the honourable thing, and convert, revert, to Islam — accepting the superiority of Islam over and above each and every way of the West.”

Both pictures are of David Myatt in Fascist and Islamist roles.Frightening eh ?

Monday, April 23, 2007

This is a story lifted straight from Robert Lindsay's always excellent blog April 14th - The posh ladies of Portobello ***should worry ?

The Death Swamps

2 1/2 weeks ago, on March 27, some sewage ponds in Gaza overflowed, killing 5 people. The reporting in the Zionist-controlled US media did not shine much light on the situation. It seemed to be either an act of God or a tragedy that was no one's fault.

Here is what the Western media left out: First of all, the sewage ponds have overflowed twice previously, once in 1988 and once in 1993. The facility used to work properly as a sewage treatment plant, but it needs electricity to run.

When Israel bombed the power plant in Gaza after Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured last summer, the facility was unable to treat sewage. It has since been limping by on generators, but that doesn't really cut it.

The upshot is that untreated sewage has been flowing into the ponds, seeping down into the aquifer, contaminating the aquifer, and expanding the ponds to the breaking point as the water levels rose very high.

Since the area is in Israel's "security zone" (a part of Gaza along the border with Israel where Israel does not allow much of anything to go on), Israel is unable to guarantee the security of anyone working on the plant, so the work is unfunded.

The only solution is to pump raw sewage out to sea but that would pollute the ocean water that is used by Israel's Ashkelon desalinization plant (which is interestingly another source of concentrated heavy metals in the human diet). Already, three years ago, 50% of the children in the surrounding area had digestive problems from the contamination of the aquifer.

In 2003, donors again expressed interest in a renovation of the treatment plant but they canned that proposal when they were not sure if Israel would allow any technicians to come into the area. The same year, another group of donors wanted to rebuild the plant, but Israel threatened to bomb the area if anyone started working on the plant.

Now all funding period has stopped for everything, and there is barely even enough money to pay government workers, much less to rebuild a sewage plant. The Western media likes to play up the Western funding freeze to the Hamas government as a great thing.

Your average reader probably nods his head in approval as he reads this. But should a funding freeze cover sewage treatment plants? Is that right, proper or reasonable?

As you can see, Israel was much more responsible for this deadly incident than the media let on.

This story comes Via the excellent A Mother From Gaza blog. The photo comes from there and is by Darryl Li.

"According to Darryl Li, the sewage facility is a collection of seven manmade lagoons at the edge of the former settlement bloc. "When working properly, the facility cleans waste water and then redeposits it into the aquifer. It has long been described as a major environmental problem: it is overtaxed and untreated sewage has long been polluted the groundwater in the area, and the facility has flooded at least twice."

The facility stopped functioning entirely in the weeks after the power cutoff last year (when Israel bombed Gaza's power plant), and later functioned at very low efficiency levels with generators. Water level consuquently rose dangerously high.

The embankments of the cesspool have also been the target of frequent Israeli shelling, threatening their integrity, says Darryl Li."

"According to a UN OCHA report issued in 2004, 110 acres were already flooded by waste from the plant by that year, and the area was growing. 50% of the children in neighbouring villages had digestive problems related to the overlfowing sewage and contmination of drinking water in the area."

***Portobello is a the very genteel seaside 19 Century resort outside Edinburgh.